• airplane offsets

    Flying home for Thanksgiving? Consider Offsetting Your Air-Travel Carbon Emissions

    It is clear that air travel is a significant contributor to global climate change. Studies indicate that aviation is currently responsible for 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions and air travel is only becoming more and popular. In 1999, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that air plane greenhouse gas emissions will increase tenfold between 1992 and 2050. Traveling 2,000 miles in an airplane emits approximately the same amount of carbon dioxide as driving 1,900 miles in a mid-sized car. However, Greenhouse gases emitted from airplanes have particularly damaging effects because of the altitude at which gases are released.

    These disheartening numbers may compel you to look into purchasing carbon offsets along with your next plane ticket. Fortunately, there are currently dozens of companies through which individuals or organizations can neutralize their carbon emissions from flying. Such offsets can take multiple forms: investing in renewable energy (such as wind, biomass or solar), energy-efficiency projects (such as compact fluorescent lights, refrigerators) or biological sequestration (such as planting trees that will uptake carbon). There is a range of quality and standards amongst carbon offset companies, yet, there is currently no universal regulatory body governing the way in which companies use consumers’ money. As such, it is up to consumers of these voluntary offsets to do their homework and ask lots of questions before choosing a company that they believe will most effectively offset their carbon emissions. When making this decision for yourself, you may want to check out company websites and send a few e-mails to find the answer to some of the following questions:

    Is the carbon-offset company a non-profit or not? What percentage of their sales go towards operating costs? You may feel that you’re getting the most bang for your buck if a high percentage of your money is going directly towards offset projects. Non-profits generally put more money directly towards projects (as opposed to operating costs). However, it is not entirely clear how different companies define “project implementation” funds versus operating cost funds.

    What sorts of projects do they invest in? Renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects avoid emissions, whereas as sequestration projects absorb emissions that have already entered the atmosphere. Sequestration projects generally deal with the land use. This can be a little bit of a bargain as it can be difficult to predict what sort of diseases or human activity will plague a forest in the future.

    If the company is investing in projects that would be carried out regardless of your financial support or receives renewable energy credits for a project, in addition to selling you offsets, then you are not actually offsetting your emissions. Such a company would not be worth your money.


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